Memoirs of a Bloody Heart
by BlueAbyssofShadows
Summary: After Edward gets killed during the battle with the Volturi, Bella is left heartbroken and lost. Her only ray of light is that Renesmee survived and is unharmed. As she travels with the remaining survivors of the terrible battle, a certain blonde Romanian seems to catch her eye. Can he slowly mend her broken heart? Or will Bella refuse to ever open her heart for anyone else again?
1. The Aftermath of the Battle

**I just loved Vladimir and Stefan in the movie, so I couldn't help but make a story pairing Vladimir with Bella. Beware though! Lots of fluff, crying, gore, and cursing will come later in future chapters. The rating of this story may be subject to change.**

**My story is going to take place just after the fight with the Volturi and all of the covens. Unlike in the book and the movie, the fight really did happen because Nahuel came too late and Alice didn't show Aro what his fate was going to be.**

**However, in my story, Aro is still alive. He adds drama to almost everything, so what would be the fun in just having him killed off? ;) Only about 10 Volturi members are alive out of the 32 that came. And only 9 witnesses, including Bella and Vladimir, that sided with the Cullens are alive out of the 24. You'll find out which ones are still alive in the next chapters.**

**Also, in my story, Rosalie and Carmen left with Jacob and Renesmee when they escaped from the fight. So those four escaped, but it is currently unknown is they are still alive or not. All I can say is that Renesmee is still alive, if you haven't figured that out already, since I said so in the description of the story.**

**Renesmee is 3 years old in the beginning of this story. Close to the age she was at the end of Breaking Dawn, the book.  
**

**The entire story will be in Bella's P.O.V, just like the book.**

* * *

As I slowly started to drift back into consciousness, all I could see around me was darkness.

I didn't know exactly where I was, but the overbearing weight of dead bodies on top of me was enough to say. If I were still a human, I would definitely be dead right now. There was no oxygen whatsoever since I was trapped below a pile of bodies. Not to mention the crushing weight that was against me.

I winced and tried to shove away most of the bodies as I could off mine. I couldn't remember most of what exactly happened. All I remembered was Carlisle getting beheaded, and that's when we saw red and the fight started between us and the Volturi. Then, I remember fighting Aro with Edward, and nearly beheading him, before the Volturi guards came and attacked me, and then it was all a blur. The last thing I saw was Edward's rage when the Volturi all started to come at me.

As I pushed the last body of a Volturi guard off of me, all I could hear was silence and the slight crackle of fire due to the torches and fire that Benjamin had started. As I glanced around my surroundings, I almost wished I hadn't. Nearly all the covens were lying dead, including a wide majority of the Volturi. It was a gruesome sight, with heads and dead bodies everywhere.

I tried not to step over bodies as I made my way through the trail of death. My only priority was to find Edward, and make sure he was still alive.

I didn't care how many dead bodies there were.

He had to be alive. There was no option otherwise.

However, as my red gaze caught sight of my coven all laying dead in different areas of the battlefield, my hope started to fall. I slowly felt myself getting dizzy and I felt like someone had just punched me in the throat due to the overwhelming tears that were about to fall out of my eyes.

But seeing one dead body in particular completely destroyed me.

My gaze landed on a familiar body that was laying dead underneath flames. The man who I had loved unconditionally for years. The man who I cherished and couldn't be without. My first and only love. My everything. My whole world and light.

Edward.

Dead.

Gone.

I couldn't and didn't want to believe it at first. I merely just stared at his body as my entire body trembled with sadness and misery. However, as soon as it finally entered into my brain that I was staring at the dead body of my beloved husband, I gave out a blood-curdling, chilling scream, powerful enough to wake the dead.

But in this case, I wished my screams had the power to wake the dead. I wished my stupid shield power would disappear. The power that I had didn't help me protect Edward, nor was it going to bring him back from the dead.

I gave out another piercing scream as I fell to the snowy floor and sobbed uncontrollably.

No..

This can't be happening.

My beautiful coven family was dead, along with the man I loved so much.

I felt like my heart had been crushed into little tiny pieces.

"No. Edward, please. You can't die. You can't be dead. I can't live without you. My world is nothing without you!" I cried out and hyperventilated through my continuous flowing tears.

Our poor little baby Renesmee, without a loving father.

As I thought about Renesmee, thoughts instantly clouded my mind, and quickly replaced my sadness and despair with worry.

My daughter was still alive. I had to find her.

The last time I saw her was when I sent her off with Jacob, along with Rosalie and Carmen. I had wanted Rosalie to go with them, since she was one of the few people I trusted with Renesmee. Carmen went with them as well because Eleazar didn't want her to join us in battle.

When I thought I was the only survivor left, Renesmee, Jacob, and Rosalie might be still well alive as well as Carmen. The fact that I knew my daughter might still be alive, a tiny glitter of hope flickered in my heart.

I then suddenly cried more tears, both of happiness and sadness. Happiness because my daughter was alive, and sadness because Edward was gone.

When silent footsteps approached me, I barely noticed as I continued to cry against the snow.

"Crying is useless. Revenge is the only answer," I heard a familiar voice say, laced in a Romanian accent.

Since the voice had that familiar Romanian accent, it wasn't very hard to guess who the voice came from.

I slightly look up from the snow to stare up at one of the Romanian faces. As I examined him, I could quickly see that it was Dracula 1, as Jacob jokingly nicknamed him. The one with the platinum blonde, nearly white haired Romanian guy. Vladimir, his name was. I was almost surprised to see that his other partner wasn't with him, seeing as those two were inseparable during their stay with us. However, I quickly guessed that his partner was dead, just like everyone else.

I suddenly felt an urge to snap at him the moment he spoke to me. Tears continued to fall from my cheeks as my eyebrows furrowed in anger. How dare he say that I shouldn't mourn? Edward was everything to me.

"How would you know? You don't know anything!" I hissed at him. However, I almost instantly regretted it. I know that it wasn't his intention to hurt me, he was just making a comment. However, due to my loss I was severely upset and distraught, that even the slightest word might tick me off or make me sob.

"Oh? I don't know anything?" He narrowed his eyes at me as the snow continued to fall. It was at that moment that I noticed his pale eyelashes that resembled the color of the snow. Everything was white about him, except his black leather clothing and cape.

"The Volturi killed my mate as well as yours, centuries ago. I know the pain of losing a loved one. Don't act like you are the only person in this world who understands the pain of losing someone," He seethed at me.

I drew back away from him and tensed my shoulders. I fluttered my eyelashes at him before gazing back at the snow, where I was still sitting down at. "I'm..sorry," I softly muttered.

"Well, while you sit here crying like some sick puppy, I'm going to go hunt down the Italian scum that got away from the fight," Vladimir scoffed, before take a step forward.

Wait. So, some of the Volturi survived and managed to get away? I had thought we killed all of them.

I wanted to say something, but before I could open my mouth he was already running off with incredible speed towards the other side of the woods, where presumably the remaining retreating Volturi went.

I admitted I was curious, but I had much more important matters to get to, like finding Renesmee was currently on the top of my list.

I forced myself to get up from the floor, but my feet were so wobbly from the shock of seeing everyone dead that I nearly fell back down to the ground. My whole body trembled as I tried not to look at the dead bodies. I couldn't even bear to look at Edward's body engulfed in flames anymore.

"I love you. So much, Edward. I promise I'll be with you again soon," I let the last tear fall from my cheeks. I didn't exactly know what those words meant, but they seemed to reassure me.

I quickly ran away from the battlefield where all the dead bodies lay. I was zipping through the cold breeze with abnormal speed due to my supernatural vampire abilities. However, this speed quickly ended as I stopped near the entrance of the forest. My speed suddenly came to a stop and my body continued to tremble from the shock, sadness, and presumably lack of blood since I had not drank any for two days.

I muttered a curse of frustration under my breath as I forced myself to slowly move forward, using normal speed. I tried to run normally at first, however this was soon subdued to a walk.

I felt frustrated, seeing that I would never reach Renesmee at this rate. She was with a werewolf and two vampires that still had their fast speed.

My breathing also began to sound a bit more heavier and strained. My vision was starting to blur as my body started to weaken even more. I walked what seemed about for hours, until I finally couldn't take it anymore and collapsed next to a tree.

I softly groaned and pressed the side of my face against the icy blanket of snow. I fluttered my eyes open and tried to make another move to get up, but it was no use. I knew I had to find blood, and fast. Or else I was going to starve to death.

However, I had no way of getting up so how was I possibly going to find myself blood? I silently wished that some poor, helpless animal would wander on by so I could easily grab it and drink it's blood. The only dilemma was that I couldn't smell any scent or hear any movements from an animal that would be nearby. The only sound I heard was from several humans hiking across the woods several miles away.

Having a coven was very benefiting to have, especially if someone were in my condition right now. But I had absolutely nobody. Only me, and the silence and solitude of the forest.

All I could think about right now was Edward. Wishing that he wasn't dead, wishing that he was somehow still alive and seeing his dead body was some sick, cruel joke. I wanted the both of us to live together forever. Or to die together. I wondered why I wasn't dead when everyone else was. I just didn't seem fair.

I contemplated about killing myself, but I knew vampires couldn't die. Although, I was currently starving to death. I could just lay here and continue to starve until I finally perish from weakness. However, I knew I couldn't allow myself to die. I had to be strong in order for Renesmee. I had to stay alive knowing that there was a small bit of hope that my daughter was still alive. She still needed her mother.

As I tried to get up once again, I noticed the scent of the humans were getting closer. I also heard their footsteps, which were well about a mile away now. However, my senses and hearing were interfered with this other noise that sounded like a whirlwind among the breeze and pounding footsteps.

I lifted my head from the floor as the noise stopped and the familiar vampire stood in front of me once again.

I was surprised to see him again, but somewhat relieved in hoping that he could help me.

"You look like you need some assistance," Vladimir smirked at me. His voice didn't sound giving at all, however. His cold smirk and voice sounded like a predator looking down on some poor, helpless prey that was about to be eaten.

I slightly shook as he stared down upon me. I was weakened and vulnerable, so I felt even more intimidated by him.

"I..just need blood, please…" I awkwardly begged, wishing I didn't sound like such a frightened child.

He didn't say anything, but merely lifted his head to the sound of humans chattering and their footsteps getting closer. As soon as he heard them, an evil grin spread across his face.

"I don't drink human blood," I quickly decided to say, knowing where he was getting at the second he grinned.

"Human blood gives you more nutrition than animal blood. It is more fulfilling," He explained.

"I said no-" I began to say, but he was already off towards the humans. About a minute later all I could hear was bones snapping and crunching, and the horrible , terrified screams of the human victims.

I heard flesh being ripped and disgusting crunching sounds that instantly made me close my eyes and wince.

After the screaming had quieted down, Vladimir had came back to me with blood streaming down his arms and mouth. He had apparently already take some of the humans' blood.

I was about to protest again, but as soon as he bent down in front of me and the blood of the humans filled my nostrils, I suddenly leaped forward and took one of his arms in my hand, and proceeded to lick the blood off of his skin.

When I started to do this, I saw him give a smirk out of the corner of my eye.

The taste of the human blood was so wonderful, and it instantly made my eyes glow red instead of it's original black color from lack of blood. I had to wonder for a split second as to why I preferred animal blood instead of human blood.

I trembled and held his hand as I continued to lick the blood off his fingers. Before finally, his one arm was wiped clean of any remaining human blood. As soon as I realized what I just did, I immediately stopped licking the blood. This was not the way of my coven. We were to remain vegetarian vampires, not become a soulless monster by killing humans.

It also came into realization that I just licked the skin of a stranger vampire. If I were still human, my cheeks would have been flushed red with embarrassment right about now. But I wasn't, so my face continued to remain its permanent pale. The taste of the human blood was so addicting, so good, that I couldn't help myself when I saw his arms covered in it.

However, it seemed to displease him as soon as I stopped. "Drink more. You need energy," He demanded.

I glared at him and tried to keep back from him. "I don't drink human blood. I don't want to. Get me animal blood, right now." I protested.

"You will die if you don't drink any blood, you foolish girl. There is no animals near this part of the woods," He spoke with annoyance.

"I want animal blood," I repeated, before resting back against the tree. The slightest strength I had regained from the little mouthful of blood wasn't enough and soon my energy started to deteriorate.

Vladimir seemed to notice this, since he glared at me and gave out a silent curse.

"Fata proasta," He muttered in Romanian, before giving out a scoff and gathering me in his arms before I entirely fall unconscious. Despite him being only an inch taller than me, he was incredibly strong because of his enhanced supernatural strength. So I probably weighed nothing to him.

As my vision started to spin, I placed my arms around his neck and rested my head against his shoulder. His scent was odd, but nice, nevertheless. I somehow felt safe and protected in his arms.

I slowly began to fall asleep as he continued to carry me and walk deeper into the forest. At this point, he stopped complaining and stayed silent as I fell asleep against him.

My exhausted body soon feel into a fragile state as I slowly faded away into my world of dreams.

* * *

_"Fata proasta"= Stupid girl_

**A/N:**

**Hope you guys liked this rather short first chapter, but I can guarantee that the future chapters will be longer, hopefully. I appreciate reviews, so review! And tell me how you like the story so far.**


	2. Humble Beginnings

**I appreciate the reviews and followers to my story, keep them coming guys! I'm going to be responding to any reviews I have received here.**

**To ArabellaWhitlock: Thanks :)**

**To Guest: Thank you for the criticism of my lack of vampire knowledge, I'm not much of a vampire expert. I will respond to each one of the mistakes that you have listed for me.**

**1- Vampires don't die, unless they got burned after being teared apart: Exactly. Where did I make that mistake? All the vampires that were dead in the battlefield either had their heads torn off or were burned. In Twilight, vampires can also die by having their heads decapitated and burned. **

**2- Vampires don't cry or produce tears: I actually didn't know that. I believe you, though. I guess that's why you don't see that many crying vampires. However, crying is the only way I could describe how devastated Bella was after Edward's death.**

**3- Vampires don't fall incounscience or get tired, they're always active all the time: You spelled incounscience wrong by the way, it's unconscious. And I admit I screwed up on that part. I totally forgot vampires in Twilight couldn't sleep, my bad. I guess Bella was just so overwhelmed by Edward's death that she just needed to rest, not fall asleep. **

**4- Vampires don't die of starvation, blood only gives them physical strength and sanity: No, they don't die of starvation. I wasn't planning for Bella to die of starvation. But sorry If I mentioned somewhere in the story that she was. But they do get weak if they don't get blood. That is what caused her to slow down and weaken. It weakens their state of mind if they don't get blood, so therefore her mind was shutting down on her. Therefore, causing her body to not want to function very well. **

**Now that I have replied to all the comments, lets continue on with the story :)**

* * *

I opened my eyes once my body hit the cold snow, caused by Vladimir tossing me aside. I had an overwhelming urge to punch him for using such brute and careless force against me.

I glared at him, but he responded by baring his vampire fangs at me. He seemed rather annoyed or pissed off that he had to carry me all the way to the other side of the woods just because I refused to consume human blood earlier.

"Stay here," He casually spoke, with the same tint of annoyance in his voice. After he whipped around, he sped off further into the woods, probably to catch me some prey, no doubt.

I felt slightly confused as to why he was helping me. He wasn't exactly a nice person. So why help me? But nevertheless, I was happy to have someone to help me.

I slightly sat up from the floor and leaned my body against the bark of a nearby tree. I couldn't understand why I was so weak and fragile at this point, but I probably guessed that it was the depression of losing Edward eating away at my mind.

My mental state of mind was incredibly weak, caused by losing Edward and the lack of blood. My weak mind was causing my body to shut down and refuse to do anything. I was in under a deep state of depression.

The depression caused me to ignore the horrible burning in my throat, caused by lack of blood in my system.

When Vladimir finally came back, after what was about several minutes, he was dragging a young stag behind him, gripping it's dislocated neck in his hand. Blood was trailing behind the deer, while instantly made my mouth water.

Once Vladimir tossed the stag beside me, I wasted no time in leaping forward and violently tearing it apart in order to suck all of it's blood dry. I bit down on it's neck, having my fangs tear it's flesh and get to blood.

Once I finished practically devouring the entire animal's blood, all that was left was a very inflated-looking deer.

I breathed and savored every taste of blood that went in my mouth. My golden eyes averted back up to Vladimir's red ones. "Thank you," I made a silent murmur.

"Next time, don't ask me for help." He narrowed his eyes.

Feeling satisfied with the amount of blood, I stood up and crossed my arms. "If you didn't want me to ask for your help, then why did you come back? I thought you were off chasing the Volturi down?" I asked.

"I lost their scent," He growled. "I didn't intend to find you, I just happened to run into you while I was heading the other way,"

"Oh," I blinked at him.

Feeling curious about what had happened to his partner, I decided to bring him up. "What happened to your partner? The one that was always with you,"

His expression seemed to drop as soon as I mentioned him, but nevertheless, remained cold and emotionless. "Stefan is dead. Like the rest," He explained, and I could've swore that I picked up the smallest amount of sadness within his voice, however, he did a good job in hiding it.

I felt rather sorry for him. Those two had probably been together for a millennium, and had stayed the only two remaining survivors of their coven when the Volturi killed them off. Losing Stefan had probably hurt Vladimir quite a bit, seeing that he was the only person he could trust and put his faith in. Now he had nobody.

"Is anyone else alive besides us?" I questioned, wondering whether he might have seen other survivors around.

"None that I know of," He replied. "I have not seen any survivors except you."

Hearing that made my heart sink a little bit. If Renesmee was even still alive, she was miles away by now. If she was anywhere close, I would have been able to smell her scent if smelling Jacob's horrible stench wasn't enough.

"My daughter's still alive. I have to find her," I informed him.

"You mean the little half-breed child? If you put her in the hands of one of those pitiful shape shifting dogs, then she is most likely already dead." He gave out a small smirk.

"I trust Jacob. He would protect her even at the cost of his own life," I glared at him.

"Maybe so. But he does not stand a chance against the Volturi," Vladimir explained.

"That's why I have to find them," I began to walk away from the tree, before glancing back at Vladimir. I didn't exactly know what he planned to do since he lost scent of the Volturi.

"Will you come with me? Or no?" I asked him, slightly hoping he would agree. Two vampires were much more better than a lone vampire.

"I will follow you. But only if you plan to get revenge on the Volturi," He replied, his red gaze glistening with hatred.

"Oh, I plan to." I seethed.

They were the ones who killed Edward. They deserved to die and burn. I was going to make sure of that.

Great, now I was starting to sound like the Romanians.

"Good," Vladimir sadistically grinned.

With a slight nod of my head, I sped off deep into the woods, with Vladimir following close behind. The breeze of the air caused my hair to caress my face and blow wildly behind me. Keeping my senses alert, and taking in the oxygen of the air every so often, I was determined to find Renesmee's scent.

* * *

Hours passed, and it seemed like we were getting nowhere. We passed through the whole area of Forks, without being noticed by humans. I was growing more frustrated by the second, desperate to find my daughter.

I stopped running and stood nearby a tree, sulking. Vladimir casually broke to a stop behind me, before leaning against another nearby tree. He seemed to be amused by my frustration, however, I wasn't in the mood to get upset by that.

"I don't understand..!" I furrowed my eyebrows. "We would've found them by now. Where are they?"

"I think they are dead," Vladimir scoffed at me.

"Don't say that! No they aren't!" I growled, whipping around to face him with a furious glare.

"It is your decision whether you believe that or not. Tell me, little Bella, if they were in fact alive, don't you think we would have found them by now?" He calmly explained. "Especially if the half-breed were with that wolf, we would have smelled his stench a long time ago,"

Although Vladimir had a point, I still wasn't going to listen to him. I knew they still had to be alive.

"Why should I believe you? You're nothing but a heartless monster, just like the Volturi. You don't care about anyone but yourself," I spat, not caring about how my words affected him.

At my comment, his amusing gaze faded and was quickly replaced with anger. "Do not ever compare me to those Italian filth," I sneered. "Unless you want me to tear your pretty little head off,"

"You can try," I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Be careful what you wish for, it may happen." Vladimir took several steps towards me, and I instinctively took a few steps back.

His eyes were wild with fury, and his red gaze pierced mine. For a split second, I was afraid of him. However the fear quickly passed when I boldly remained in the same spot as he continued to step closer.

When he stood inches away from my face, his hand reached up and roughly grabbed my chin to force my face up at his. His hand was considerably cold, but very soft and hard at the same time. I felt a shudder tingle up my spine as he touched my skin. I gave out a small gasp and struggled at first, but then I decided to relax my face against his hand.

"If I were to kill you, it would be such a shame. You are a beautiful little creature," He examined my face, before raising an eyebrow.

I blinked at him, slightly confused as to why he decided to compliment me. I carefully stared at his face, which was a flawless pale white color. I might have even put into consideration that his skin was paler than mine, if that was even possible.

As I studied him more, it came into realization that Vladimir was gorgeous. He had striking red eyes with hair so blonde that it was nearly as white as the snow. I never realized, or cared to see how attractive he was.

However, I quickly shrugged off those thoughts as I continued to glare at him. I quickly shoved his hand away from my face.

"If you think I'm searching for dead people, then why are you even following me in the first place?" I demanded.

He rolled his eyes at me. "You wanted me to follow you, idiot."

"I never wanted you to. I just offered for you to follow me, since I figured you had no where else to go," I angrily explained.

"So you want me to leave, then?" He asked me with annoyance.

"Yes. I do," I ordered, keeping my glare on him.

"Fine, I will leave." He seemed rather calm this time, and instead he gave me a small smile, before turning and walking the other way.

I knew he was walking instead of running so I could watch him leave and feel guilty.

However, I had no guilt whatsoever.

As he took a few minutes to take his sweet time walking away from me, he suddenly bolted out of the area, causing a small breeze he left behind to send some of the branches of the trees rustling.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed, finding it better to see him gone. As the branches of the trees quieted down, I turned around and slowly started to make my way towards nowhere in particular. The only thing I could see in front of me was trees, trees, and more trees. I felt hopeless, and suddenly a thought crept onto my mind that I might never find Renesmee.

I followed the trail of snow which had footprints and signs of broken twigs on the floor. My shoulders instantly dropped when I realized that I had just came this way. I was definitely going around in circles, no doubt. That made my hopes drop even more.

I groaned and angrily punched a nearby tree, before slumping against it. I had no idea why life had to be so unfair. First, my whole coven gets killed off, including Edward, and now I can't find my only daughter who is probably stricken with grief thinking both of her parents were dead.

I gave out an exasperated sigh, thinking about everyone that got killed. Carlisle, who was always so compassionate and caring, even towards his enemies. Esme, who was almost like a second mom to me. She was always had a warm smile on her face that was so welcoming and loving. Alice, always so full of life and energy. She was the first person to accept me. I never thought I could ask for a more better friend than her. Jasper, always so polite and bold. I would always enjoy taking fighting lessons from him. He would always be so patient with me, despite my clumsiness. Emmett, his jokes would always bring a smile to my face and his brute strength would always reassure me. Rosalie, who might actually still be alive with my daughter, which I was hoping. I didn't get along with her too well at first, but when I got pregnant with Renesmee, she was of great help to me and became my protective guardian.

And lastly, Edward. My Edward. The only key to my happiness and love. My everything. I was slowly starting to fall apart and become nothing from the inside, since the only thing that remained on my mind was the dead body of my loving husband that I said I would die for. But now, he ended up dying. I didn't hold true to my promise. I let him die.

When I started to think of them, I gave out miserable sobs. However, no tears came out. I closed my eyes for a few seconds before opening them once again to stare at the dreary clouded sky. My lip trembled, and I forced my gaze away from the sky to stare back at the heavy blanket of snow.

I had to put those sad memories of them behind me, or else I would just get even worse. Edward was no longer my present or my future. He will forever remain in the past, along with the rest of all the ones who had perished in the battle.

I knew it was going to be very hard to push Edward out of my thoughts. His touch. His kisses that I would never be able to feel again lingered in the back of my mind. I desperately longed to be held by him, to be reassured by him that everything was going to be alright.

It was killing me to know that I would never be held by him ever again. I would never see his beautiful face and reassuring gaze. Everything that I had loved, everything that I had lived for, cherished, and protected, was gone.

I stepped away from the tree I was slumped against and stood at the trail of footsteps in the snow. My long dark eyelashes softly caressed my pale cheeks as I helplessly and meaninglessly stared at the snow. My thoughts filled with regret, sorrow, and guilt.

I was so deep in thought that I barely noticed a crunching sound of branches coming from several feet away from me. As soon as I heard the noise, I quickly lifted my head and stared at the direction where the noise came from, which was by a towering oak tree. I imagined whatever had made the noise was hiding behind the tree.

I half-expected it to be Vladimir. But now I wasn't so sure. I don't think Vladimir would have come back since I told him to leave.

"Vladimir..? Is that you?" I softly called out, my voice sounding tiny and weak. I nearly mutter a curse for sounding so weak and fragile. The huge amount of sadness and grief I was experiencing had taken it's toll on me, making me helpless.

When I didn't receive a reply, I automatically figured that it had must have been an animal who made the noise. Possibly a squirrel or a rabbit. I quickly shrugged the noise off.

Suddenly, I felt almost a slight guilt in telling Vladimir to leave. He wasn't necessarily being mean to me, he was just being honest. The fact that I haven't found Jacob or Renesmee's scent yet could possible mean that they were dead. If they were, then I have yet another reason why to not keep living.

If I found Renesmee was dead, then I would probably purposely go to the remaining Volturi that were still alive, and tell them to kill me.

Now, I felt incredibly alone. I sort of wished that Vladimir was still here. It was always nice to have someone, even if we were still not used to each other. Anything that breathed would still be nice to have to keep me company.

I sighed and averted my gaze back to my footprints in the snow. However, it came to my realization that my footprints in the snow were too large to be mine. I stared at them with a confused expression on my solemn face. I walked over to the large footprints and slowly placed my foot on it, which immediately proved that my feet were indeed too small for the footprint. That's when I suddenly realized that it only came from one person. If these were my footprints from before, Vladimir's footprints would have been combined with mine also since we were both searching together.

I tried to come up with ideas as to where the footprints might have come from. I suggested a human, but I would have smelled a human scent by now. Instead, I smelled a familiar scent, but not exactly welcoming, nearby. In fact, the scent was very close. At this discovery, my body grew tense and I immediately turned to put my guard up.

However, as soon as I put my guard up from the footprints' direction, I heard loud running footsteps coming my way from the other side of me. Before I even had time to turn the other way, muscular arms wrapped around my neck and held me in a deadly headlock.

I gasped and immediately brought my hands up to claw at the muscular arms that were holding my neck. However, the intruder just tightened his hold on me and let out a low chuckle into my ear. I screamed in frustration.

"I came here to check if there were any more survivors, but finding you here is even better. Aro will be pleased to know that I killed one of his biggest threats," The menacing voice behind me rumbled with anticipation.

Instead of saying anything, I merely bit down hard against his arm and brought my elbow back to strike him against his chest. He cursed and immediately let me go, causing me to spin around and face him. Once I stared at him I instantly recognized him as Demetri. So he did survive the battle after all.

"You're dead," He sneered at me, before lunging at me with forceful speed. He easily knocked me down, causing the both of us to fall and roll down the small hill of snow. As he struggled to grab my neck, I kicked him, which sent him flying several feet away from me.

As soon as he landed against the snow, he wasted no time in getting up again and growling at me with pure hatred. He lunged, well actually flew towards me and knocked me down once again. This time he landed on top of me, holding my wrists over my head. I wriggled against his grip and tried to kick him off, but he brought his fist down and punched me in the stomach, hard.

I cried out in pain, causing him to grin down at me. He then flipped me over and continued to press his body against mine. He grabbed a hold of my neck and prepared to rip it off my head. Before he did, he leaned in closer so that his face was inches away from mine, and I could feel his cold breath against my hair. I gave out exasperated gasps of air as I continued to struggle violently to escape out of his grip.

"Stay still, gorgeous. You won't feel a thing. Make sure to say hello to your precious mate once you join him in the afterlife," He laughed against my ear. "And don't worry. Your child is soon to join you both soon,"

Before I had the time to react with rage, I heard speedy footsteps that were coming towards us. The leaves of the trees were rustling, and before the noise came to a sudden stop, Demetri was quickly thrown off of me. All I could hear were his curses and punches being thrown every second. I turned my body around and continued to helplessly lay on the snow, but as soon as I saw that Vladimir had came back, and was now confronting Demetri, I was nearly both relieved and shocked.

"Demetri," Vladimir hissed as soon as they paused fighting for a few seconds, making sure he spilled out every ounce of venom in saying his name.

"Ah, Vladimir. Long time no see. It pleases me to see that the Romanian scum finally shows his face," Demetri sneered back at him with a smirk.

"The same goes for you, Italian filth. I see you never grew tired of being Aro's little search dog," Vladimir insulted back.

At this, Demetri's eyes grew wild with rage. He took no time into violently lunging at Vladimir. Both of them were extremely talented fighters, since they were equally dodging each others attacks and throwing punches at each other. Even though the fight lasted for about several minutes, it seemed hours as they scuffled with each other.

Vladimir had now grabbed Demetri and had thrown him against a nearby tree, however Demetri took this time to quickly dash out of the area and try to escape. Vladimir quickly followed behind with an ecstatic sadistic grin on his face. I had guessed that Vladimir was not going to allow him to escape, and was going to kill him no matter what the consequences.

After they both ran out of the area, I slowly sat up from the snow. Several pieces of the snow had fallen from my long brown hair, and I my head was now spinning from being slammed against the snow too many times. However, the pain quickly passed. I continued to sit in the snow, my whole body trembling with anger and frustration after the entire incident.

My head perked up when I heard retreating footsteps coming my way. I was prepared to keep my guard up, but soon relaxed once I saw Vladimir come out from the trees. He looked clearly upset and irritated. Which made me guess that he didn't manage to catch Demetri.

"Did you kill him?" I decided to ask anyway.

"No. The coward got away," Vladimir sneered, before glaring daggers at the floor. I was nearly surprised that Demetri had managed to escape from Vladimir, since he was so incredibly fast. But I guess Demetri was a little faster.

"Why did you come back?" I questioned, my voice filled with confusion.

"I had already smelled his scent and was hunting him down. And then I heard you scream," He casually replied, although his voice had the tiniest bit of concern. However, it quickly changed into annoyance. "I did not come for you. I came because of the Italian scum. You told me you wanted me to leave, so I planned to do just that,"

I stayed silent, continuing to sit motionless on the snow.

"I'm assuming you still want me gone, so I will take my leave." Vladimir stated, before turning the other way.

"No!" I immediately lifted my head to stare at him. "Don't leave.."

He stopped and raised an eyebrow at me, rather intrigued. "You want me to stay?"

"Yes. I'm…sorry. For being mean to you before," I sheepishly admitted.

He gave out a silent chuckle. "You are definitely an interesting girl. You can be confusing at times, but amusing to be around,"

I gave him a small smile, before standing up from the snow and slowly making my way towards him. When I stood inches away from him, I suddenly embraced him out of nowhere, not thinking ahead before I did.

When I hugged him, he instantly tensed up. For a second I thought he was going to shove me off. However, once he saw how distressed I was, he slightly relaxed. I pressed my head against his chest, which was covered by his black leather jacket. "Thanks for saving me, even if you didn't mean to." I mumbled.

"You still thank me even when I did not intend to save you?" He asked, surprised. His arms made no move to wrap around me and embrace me back.

"If you didn't want to save me, then you would've just let Demetri kill me and then kill him after he was done killing me," I stared up at him with an amused smirk.

He stood quiet for a few seconds, before finally giving in with an irritated scoff. "True," He admitted.

As the snow continued to fall and land on my hair, Vladimir raised his arms, and for a second or two I thought he was going to hug me back, but instead he just took off his black cape that he was wearing and threw it over my head to wrap around my body and shield me from the falling snow.

My eyes fluttered as the cape landed over me and I glanced at the cape, before glancing back at him. I was confused as to why he did that, but it was a rather a nice gesture. I opened my mouth to say something, but he quickly interrupted me.

"Enough thanking. Lets go find the half-breed," He sighed and turned the other way.

I smiled at him and followed him, with the black cape flowing behind me. Before, I thought that Vladimir had no remorse or feelings. But it seemed like he had the capacity to care, even if it was just a little bit. I was glad to have a companion, or a friend with me. He made me feel secure and safe.

So the Romanians did have a heart under that cold exterior of theirs after all. And maybe in the future, I could discover what other things he was capable of that he was clearly hiding.

But for now, I left it be as we both took off into the cascading breeze of air. The fluorescent snow continued to fall as we resumed our search into finding Renesmee and the others.

* * *

_**A/N**:_

_**Hopefully they find Renesmee within the next chapter! :o Well, as you can see, there is slight fluff to this chapter but not very much. I hope you like the story so far. Keep the reviews coming, please. Thank you :)**_


	3. Poisonous Hope

**A/N: **

**Thanks for the reviews and sorry for the long update. I'm glad you guys like it so far. Feel free to leave any ideas you want**** to have happen in the story in a review. Tell me how you guys like the story so far :)**

* * *

As soon as I caught the faintest scent of other vampires, I immediately stopped in my tracks. Vladimir, who was running several steps ahead of me stopped as well and gazed toward the direction where the scent was coming from.

"Vladimir-" I began.

"I know. I smell them too," He interrupted.

I was relieved that the scent of vampires smelled familiar, which meant they were friendly. However, I was bummed out that I didn't smell Jacob's scent among them. Which probably meant that neither Renesmee or Rosalie were with these group of vampires.

"Lets go check them out. They might be survivors from Carlisle's witnesses," I began to walk forward.

Vladimir quickly frowned at my eagerness. "Be careful, Bella. We don't know that,"

I heard his words, but didn't reply back. I quickly took off in a sprint towards the direction of the scent. Vladimir gave out an irritated sigh and took off in a sprint seconds after I did, making sure he stayed close behind me.

As we neared the scent of the unknown vampires, I caught sight of a huge plain of snow ahead with small figures walking out in the distance. When we both reached the end of the woods and stepped out of the trees, the figures I saw out in the distance instantly froze and stared at us.

I breathed in shaky gasps of air as I gazed at them. Vladimir narrowed his eyes and stepped next to me.

"It seems you were correct. I recognize some of them.." He informed.

Using my enhanced vampire sight, I recognized the group of vampires standing out in the snow. There was exactly seven of them total. Once they saw me, their faces instantly lit up as well.

The surviving group was all mixed up, clearly some or half of their coven had died. It was Kate, Garret, Eleazar, Benjamin, Tia..

"Bella! Is that you?" Benjamin called out, a huge smile on his face.

"And it's that Romanian guy too, what a surprise." Kate raised an eyebrow.

I heard Vladimir give out a scoff as he stared at all of them.

I was elated to see all of them alive, I nearly wanted to run to them and embrace them. However, as soon as I caught sight of Carmen with them as well, my heart leaped. And when I saw her carrying a little girl with her, not just any little girl-my little precious Renesmee, I swore my heart jumped in circles.

Her adorable little face quickly caught sight of me. I could see that she seemed distressed, by her puffy red eyes and tear stained face. I wanted nothing more than to kiss her tears away and never let her go.

"Mommy!" She cried, her face instantly lighting up with joy. She struggled to get out of Carmen's arms, who quickly obeyed her wishes by releasing her and placing her feet back on the floor.

Renesmee ran towards me with a huge beam on her face.

I gasped in relief and suddenly felt myself wanting to cry tears of joy. My little girl was alive…

I ran towards her and fell to the ground on my knees, quickly scooping her in my arms and kissing her. She placed her small arms around my neck and started to cry. "I thought you were dead, Mommy!" She sobbed.

I shushed her and rocked her back in forth in my arms. "Mommy's here now. I promise I won't leave you ever again. I love you so much,"

I barely even noticed the surviving group and Vladimir walking towards me and Renesmee, with me and her in the middle. Carmen and Tia were smiling at me and Renesmee, while the others were just staring at me with interest.

Kate crossed her arms and smirked at me. "Well, it's nice to see that you're alive. We thought everyone was dead except us,"

I stood up from the snow with Renesmee in my arms. "What about Jacob and Rosalie? Where are they?" I decided to ask.

Carmen frowned as Eleazar protectively held her in his arms. "They're both dead. I'm sorry, Bella." She sadly explained.

Just as soon as I felt like I've never been happier in my life, it quickly turned around. I felt like my stomach had been punched. Jacob was the only person left I could honestly really trust, and he was dead. Rosalie was the only one left from my coven besides Renesmee, and she was dead too.

Renesmee sniffed and sadly stared at me, her eyes watery on the verge of crying again.

"Who else is dead? How many people died in the battle?" I managed to choke out.

"I'm guessing a lot. The Volturi bastards hit us pretty hard," Garret sighed.

"Most of my coven's still alive, except for my sister." Kate seethed, her voice filled with anger and grief.

I suddenly felt bad for Kate. Most of her coven was alive, but the Volturi had killed both of her sisters. That must be hard for her.

"Amun and Kebi are dead," Benjamin regretfully spoke, sadness equally filling his voice. Tia quickly comforted him by resting her head against his shoulder.

"The Irish Coven are all dead," Kate began listing all the ones who had died.

"Too bad. We could have used that one girl that has the power to tell if someone's lying or not," Garret replied.

Kate scoffed. "No kidding,"

"The Amazon coven is dead," Benjamin added.

"They would have been useful as well," Eleazar spoke.

"So only two people are alive from the Egyptian Coven," Kate explained, referring to Benjamin and Tia. "Four people from my coven," She referred to herself, Garret, Eleazar, and Carmen. "Two people from your coven," She looked at me, referring to both me and Renesmee.

"And.." She glanced at Vladimir.

"Stefan is dead," He informed her.

"One person from the Romanian Coven," Kate included.

When I realized that everyone's mate was still alive except for mine, my heart dropped into my stomach. I was very grateful to have my daughter still alive, but I still missed Edward so much it hurt to even think about him.

I sighed. "So, what exactly do we do now? What's our plan?"

"I have no idea," Kate shrugged, crossing her arms. "The Volturi's dead, so there's really nothing for us to worry about."

"The Italian filth are not dead," Vladimir hissed.

Everyone in the group gasped in shock, or just froze in confusion.

Kate narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about? The Volturi are all dead, aren't they?"

"No, Vladimir's right. They aren't all dead. We ran into Demetri while trying to find you guys," I explained.

"Wait, hold up. What?" Kate's eyes widened.

"He tried to kill me," I sighed.

"If the Volturi are still alive, then they're most likely going to come after us. We need to find somewhere to hide for the meantime," Eleazar spoke.

"Like where? We don't really have a place where we can call safe. The Volturi knows where all the Covens live, I'm guessing. And now that we found out that Demetri's still alive, that's even worse. He'll track everyone of us down like dogs," Garret cursed.

Kate muttered a curse under her breath. "So, we're screwed then."

"We should've never gotten involved with the Volturi in the first place," Eleazar muttered.

As the others started to argue about places to hide and stay in, it made me briefly think of the wonderful house that Alice had gave to me and Edward to live in. Where we could all be a family together and raise Renesmee.

All of those precious moments and dreams were crushed now.

The house was so perfect. It hid us away from the world, deeply hidden in the woods where nobody would think to go.

Hidden from the world…

Suddenly I had an idea.

"I know somewhere we can stay," I instantly spoke.

Everyone turned their heads and raised their eyebrows at me.

"Where?" Carmen decided to be the one to speak up.

"It's a little house. Deep within the woods. The Volturi would probably have a hard time finding it, since it isn't the first place someone would normally look to find someone. You have to follow a specific trail of trees to find it, it would be perfect to hide in." I explained, hoping the others would find my plan intriguing.

"How do you know about this house?" Kate questioned me, her eyes narrowed with doubt.

I hesitated before answering, and sadly bit my lip. "It's…a house that Alice gave to me and Edward. A house just for us so we could both be away from everyone and raise Renesmee together."

I held Renesmee closer to me as she hugged me even tighter.

The others stood silent for a few seconds, awkwardly standing there. Some of them showed sympathy, when their eyes averted to the snow.

"I think it would be a perfect place for all of us," Benjamin then replied, his smile meeting mine.

"I agree with the little Egyptian," Vladimir smirked, as Benjamin frowned at him.

"If Benjamin agrees, then so do I," Tia added.

"I agree as well," Carmen gave me a small smile, however Eleazar seemed displeased, since he gave her a sideways frown.

"I guess you can count me in too," Kate shrugged.

"Wherever she goes, then you can count on me to follow," Garret placed his arms around Kate, who affectionately leaned back against his chest.

When all the others agreed, Eleazar soon gave in and sighed. "Perhaps it's the best motive for us to do right now,"

I nodded, exchanging smiles with Renesmee. "So we're all agreed then?"

Kate glanced at everyone and smirked. "We're all agreed,"

When we arrived at the trail of trees inside the forest where the house resided, Renesmee had fallen asleep in my arms. I knew the first thing that I had to do when I got to the house was put her to bed.

Everyone had stayed quiet the whole time we traveled to the house. There had been a few sideways conversations, but I decided not to get in them. I felt sort of out of place with the group. But then, I couldn't imagine how Vladimir must feel.

I briefly glanced at him.

He was silently following me, ignoring some of the comments about him that either Kate or Benjamin were whispering to each other. I could imagine that some of the others weren't exactly pleased that he was with us. Then again, Vladimir didn't seem to happy about it either. The only vampire that he ever probably got along with was Stefan.

I glanced back around once we came within several feet away from the house. Seeing it again made me suddenly feel depressed. However, the reaction from the others were very different. Once we entered inside, most of them were examining the house with interest. Carmen and Tia exclaimed that the house was so cute.

"This will do for now," Kate crossed her arms, agreeing with the others that the house was rather nice.

"Feel free to sit down, or do whatever." I awkwardly spoke. I wasn't a really good host. "I'm going to put Renesmee to bed," I informed them.

Carmen gave me a warm smile, and the others nodded.

As soon as I carried Renesmee out of the room, they quickly began to talk amongst themselves. I went inside Renesmee's room and placed her down on her small bed. She remained asleep as I tucked her in and kissed her forehead.

Her eyes drowsily fluttered open. "Goodnight, mommy." She murmured, before closing her eyes and hugging the blanket.

I softly stroked her hair and smiled. "Goodnight, Renesmee."

* * *

Back in the family room, everyone was conversing with each other, either standing or sitting down on one of the couches. Vladimir was the only one not talking to anyone. Instead, he was standing against a corner of the room, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

He was glaring at the floor, wondering why he was staying with these fools. He was debating about leaving, even if he didn't particularly have anywhere else to go. He was better off alone then with a group.

The talking quieted down a little, and some of the others continued to glance at him and whisper to each other. He felt himself getting more irritated by the second, however, he was intrigued when one of them actually had the courage to speak to him.

"Hey, Romanian guy." Kate called, which made the room immediately go quiet. "So, you're alone then, huh? Since your partner's gone. "

Vladimir turned his attention towards her, keeping his expression solemn. "Yes, but it does not bother me to be alone."

"I never would've guessed," Kate sarcastically replied. "Well, kudos for you for staying around. I thought you would have left by now."

"I do not plan to stay much longer," Vladimir curled his lip with annoyance. "The only reason why I stay around is in case the Italian filth come back. I do not take pleasure in being around…individuals, like you."

Almost everyone in the room glared at him.

"Well, trust me. We don't like being around you, either." Kate narrowed her eyes.

This time, Eleazar decided to speak up. "So that is your purpose for staying here? To destroy the Volturi? Revenge isn't a good reason to live on. Revenge is what corrupts people. Makes them evil like the Volturi," He calmly explained, which made a few others agree.

"You know nothing about revenge," Vladimir sneered, stepping away from the wall he was leaning against. "The Volturi did not rip away everything you had. You still have most of your coven and your precious mate," He spat the last word out, before turning his attention towards Carmen. She responded by frowning at him and stepping closer to Eleazar.

"It seems ironic that I'm telling you this, since you were in fact working for the Volturi some time ago. For all we know, you could still be working with them." Vladimir smirked, his eyes blazing with fury.

Eleazar stared at him, incredulous that he would even say something like that. Despite him always remaining calm, he allowed himself to show anger. "Don't you dare make assumptions like that. I left them because I realized how corrupted they were,"

"How do we know that you're not working for the Volturi?" Kate immediately sneered, defending Eleazar.

"Why would I be working for those Italian filth, you stupid girl?" Vladimir hissed.

"Alright, that's it." Kate stepped forward, threatening to lunge out at Vladimir.

However, Garret held Kate back and Benjamin got in between Vladimir and Kate to prevent things from getting worse. "That's enough!" He angrily shouted.

"Tell the Denali woman to watch what she says, or I will kill her." Vladimir growled, his eyes changing a deep red.

"You can try," Kate hissed.

"Not with me around, you won't." Garret replied back, keeping his glare on Vladimir.

"Why do you insist on making enemies?" Benjamin stared back at Vladimir, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion and anger.

"Because I have no interest on making friends," Vladimir narrowed his eyes.

* * *

I stayed in the room with Renesmee a little awhile longer, before closing the door and stepping out of the room. As soon as I stepped out of the room, I heard commotion inside the family room. And it didn't seem to be too friendly either. It seemed like they were arguing.

I made my way into the living room to see Benjamin and Vladimir nearly at each other's throats, Kate being held back by Garret, a troubled looking Eleazar, and Tia and Carmen were standing beside the fight, trying to calm everyone down.

I found it amazing that I left the room for only a several minutes, and chaos has already broken out. I felt suddenly grateful that Renesmee was sleeping inside her room.

"What's going on?" I decided to ask.

Everyone stopped what they were previously doing to turn their attention towards me. It made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Why don't you ask the Romanian?" Kate sneered, while turning her attention back to him.

Nobody seemed to object to that statement, since everyone turned their gazes on Vladimir.

"I think it's best that you leave." Eleazar crossed his arms, keeping his calm but angry gaze on Vladimir.

Vladimir snorted. "With pleasure," He sneered, and whipped around to make his leave out of the house.

"Finally," Kate muttered.

As soon as Vladimir slammed the door and left the house, Carmen seemed sad that things couldn't go better. However, everyone seemed rather relieved. Especially Kate and Benjamin.

While I watched Vladimir leave, I felt oddly sad. I didn't want him to leave.

As everyone began quietly chatting amongst themselves again, I ran towards the door and left the house to go follow Vladimir.

As I stepped outside, it was already getting dark, and the woods seemed chillingly silent. I made out a dark silhouette in the distance, that kept on walking away. I quickly ran towards the figure, and when I got closer the figure revealed itself to be Vladimir, continuing to walk away.

He must have heard me, but decided to ignore me and keep walking.

"Vladimir!" I called, but he didn't answer.

I gave out a frustrated sigh and tried to quicken my pace. If needed be, I would run to catch up with him.

"Vladimir, please!" I called again, this time sounding more pleading. "Wait!"

He still didn't stop.

I was about to break off into a run, but then I suddenly tripped over a rock that I had ignored while walking. I gave out a surprised gasp and fell onto the ground with a soft thud.

I muttered a curse at my clumsiness, before laying on the floor, feeling hopeless.

Out of the corner of my eye, I heard the footsteps stop and Vladimir glance over his shoulder. He stared at me with anger, but then when he realized how helpless I looked, his expression quickly softened. A second passed and he was already standing over me.

I felt slightly awkward just staring at his black boots while I continued to lay on the floor.

"So you enjoy staying on the floor after you trip?" Vladimir raised an eyebrow at me, slightly amused.

I glared at him, but managed to give him a tiny smile. I stood up from the floor and wiped the dirt off my clothes, before staring at him. "Why didn't you stop?" I demanded.

"I felt like making you run after me," He admitted.

Normally, I would be mad, but in this case, I just felt sad and lonely. I sighed and crossed my arms. "Why are you leaving..?" I decided to say.

"None of your "friends" want me here, Bella." Vladimir explained. "I dislike them, and they dislike me."

I sniffled, silently averting my gaze towards the floor. "Don't leave…" I murmured, realizing that he probably wouldn't listen anyway.

We stayed silent for a few moments, and I thought he was just going to leave, until he gave out a frustrated sigh. I continued to stare at the floor, until to my surprise, I felt a gentle hand against my cheek.

I lifted my head and stared at him in confusion. He kept his solemn gaze on mine, before softly stroking my cheek with his finger.

"I'm only going to go look for prey, and then I'll be back. I promise." He assured me, and I responded with a small nod.

I lifted my hand up to rest my hand against his, but as soon as I brushed the tip of my fingers across the back of his hand, his hand left my cheek and he was suddenly gone.

The only thing leaving behind was a small flutter of a breeze as he sprinted off into the forest.

I stared off into the distance where he left, staring at nothing in particular.

I only hoped that he kept true to his promise.


End file.
